We are so glad we had Irene officiate our wedding! She was so knowledgeable about the process and helped us craft the perfect, nondenominational ceremony that highlighted our love story. She was easy to work with and provided us clear deadlines for when we needed to give her specific info, which really helped us manage our time and gave us structure. What I loved most of all was that I had full faith Irene had it under control, and for our wedding day, we really wanted to reduce our stress and have fun with it. Irene nailed the assignment! Several of our guests told us after the wedding how much they loved the ceremony. We have Irene to thank for it turning out just as magical as we had imagined! read more

Ceremonies and Celebrations - The officiant Irene (female woman) stands behind a bride and groom during their wedding ceremony. - Officiants Near Me - Oakland, California

We were looking for an officiant for our wedding and Irene's name came up in our search. I wasn't quite sure what to look for or what to expect, but her earnest communication and feedback made the process easy for us and instilled a lot of confidence in a ceremony that can be as structured or unstructured as you want. For us, we wanted structure, and Irene presented us with lots of options. I want to highlight her eloquence and her natural curiosity. She asked all the right questions and weaved together an introduction that moved us, and turned a magical moment into something divine. I would recommend her regardless of the particular needs of your ceremony, because I think she has the experience and wisdom to adapt to your needs. read more

Irene is the Best! We just got married in July at Sbragia Family Vinyards in Sonoma. My (now) wife and I are very busy people, and we're probably not the most responsive among Irene's clients. Despite this, Irene worked with our schedules and found time to get to know us, and we felt assured going with her after our first meeting. Irene was able to take our discussions, preferences, and a few basic responses to her questionnaire, and put together a beautiful ceremony. She seems to be an old hand at this, and knows how to work with couples with limited attention spans when it comes to details. She communicated well with our wedding coordinator, and was able to make last-moment changes to the ceremony. I never want to have another wedding, but if I had to, I'd do it with Irene! read more

Ceremonies and Celebrations - You might say the day went off *with* a hitch. - Officiants Near Me - Oakland, California

Irene was our officiant for our wedding this past September and she did an amazing job! She really took the time to learn about me and my wife and crafted a very detailed ceremony speech that was both personal and sweet. The whole process with her was very easy and not too time consuming for us, which is a huge stress reliever since we had so much to do with the rest of our wedding planning. Irene offered to perform any rituals if we wanted such as tea ceremony, rose exchange, etc. In the end we stuck with stating our personal vows and exchanging rings, but it was nice knowing that Irene could tailor the ceremony to however we want it. You're the best Irene! read more

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Irene is the best, She does her research about the people she is marrying. She gets to know the people. She is really on top of the ceremony. She does an excellent job. She made our day even more special. I would definitely recommend her to everyone. read more

Our wedding would not have been the same without Irene. Several people told me afterward what a fantastic job she had done with the ceremony, and I agree entirely. She helped manage the logistics of where we should walk, how we should do hugs, what kind of mics we should get for sound, etc. The custom ceremony that she built was completely amazing. Her energy was calming, which helped us a lot in the moment. There is nothing that she could have done better. So solid. read more

Ceremonies and Celebrations - Officiants Near Me - Oakland, California

We were desperate to find an officiant, and thank heavens Irene Kane was available. She did a fabulous job getting to know us by phone and through a questionnaire. My fiancé wanted to skip the rehearsal, so as you can imagine, I was quite concerned. We had a second phone consultation where we discussed everything in great details. Irene has such a calming and kind spirit, I felt confident the ceremony would go smoothly, and it did. She was professional and pleasant and made our guests feel welcome and part of the experience. If you need an officiant, I highly recommend Ceremonies and Celebrations. read more

Irene was awesome and super helpful throughout, from the first time I emailed her. I contacted Irene less than a month before our small wedding ceremony in June. She had the date available and we quickly had a call to get to know each other before finalizing. Irene is super responsive via email and text. Even though Irene was traveling in between, she helped us finish our tasks on time, and helped us figure out what we want in our ceremony. She thought of even the small things which my husband and I had missed while planning. She had also written an awesome and personal script which we loved. Our guests were also very moved by the whole ceremony and thanks to Irene's help, we were able to make our wedding ceremony perfect. read more

We hired Irene for our elopement in Napa and it could not have gone better. We found Irene on yelp initially and had a couple of phone chats prior. She was able to totally personalize our ceremony. It felt so special and like she had known us our whole lives. She also kindly printed out our vows which we can save and keep forever. Everything went so smoothly. Would highly recommend Irene for your next big wedding or elopement! read more

Ceremonies and Celebrations - Officiants Near Me - Oakland, California

Irene was such a pleasure to have as our officiant. She was so organized and easy to work with. We loved that she had many options from which to choose to craft the ceremony that spoke directly to our values and families. We especially loved how she invited our audience to not only begin our ceremony with an approval for our wedding, but then to also end our ceremony with a pronouncement of our marriage. Everyone felt like they didn't just attend our wedding, but that they participated in it. Twas truly magical. Thank you Irene! read more

Irene was the officiant for our wedding in Walnut Creek and I can't thank her enough for such a wonderful ceremony! I highly recommend her as an officiant/celebrant for any wedding. During our first consultation, you could tell that Irene truly cared about getting to know us and what we envisioned on our wedding day. She worked closely with us throughout the entire wedding process and was very responsive over email. We met her in person several months before our wedding to review everything and she provided us with lots of resources and information that helped us customize our ceremony. We loved how she sent a questionnaire for us to fill out individually and she created a personal story that was not only memorable and special, but also lighthearted and fun. A few weeks before the wedding, we met her again in person for a rehearsal where we ran through the entire ceremony process. I really appreciated how many tips she gave us to make sure everything ran smoothly. After the wedding, we received lots of compliments from our guests, specifically mentioning how great Irene was during the ceremony. I have nothing but positive things to say about her! She was a great officiant for our wedding and I highly recommend working with her if you're looking for one! read more

Ceremonies and Celebrations - Officiants Near Me - Oakland, California

Irene Kane, founder of Ceremonies and Celebrations, is a rare treasure in the industry of inter-faith ministry. She combines her natural talent for active listening, organizing, journalistic writing, poetry and eloquent speech to help her clients create an event that captures the Spirit of the honoree(s). Moreover, she has outstanding follow-through on deadlines and special requests. My sister's Celebration of Life was unique - a reflection of her mark in friends and loved ones. Irene's open-mindedness showed in the way she validated my sister's way of life and our choices of activities for her Celebration. Irene's dignified presence added a touch of elegance & formality to our intimate event. read more

We love Irene!! She was referred to us by our wedding venue and we're so glad. Irene is so sweet and made our ceremony planning process easy and fun for us. Her calm, positive energy and presence was exactly what we wanted around us for our wedding. Many of our guests told us that they really liked her too. We can't thank Irene enough for everything and highly highly recommend her for all Ceremonies and Celebrations :) read more

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Irene is awesome! During this whole covid thing we had no choice but to do it virtual. She was very responsive and pays attention to details. I will recommend her to anyone looking to get married. She also made sure to get our names pronounced correctly. read more

Irene us truly a sweetheart she takes her time to really make sure we are 100% in love with her game plan. Irene definitely made us feel comfortable and safe on our big day reminding us to take deep breaths and especially involving our family in our ceremony definitely recommend Irene she is an amazing women read more

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We had our local vendor with their own officiant included. When we called them and ask them if they can write and elaborate on our love story, they pretty much said that wasn't part of their job. This is when we got in touch with Irene. Irene was super pleasant to work with. She wrote a beautiful story of how we met and fell in love. She was very patient and detail oriented. We got to practice with her beforehand and she answered all of our questions. Irene definitely provided a unique experience for us. It felt much more human-like in contrast to a lot of vendors that provided standard "factory-like" services. Highly recommended! read more

Ceremonies and Celebrations - Officiants Near Me - Oakland, California

We had our elopement wedding during Coronavirus quarantine. The three of us wore masks and kept social distance at the ceremony. Despite all of these, Irene made our wedding run extremely smooth. Irene suggested a place by a serene hiking trail and went there to take pictures for us to decide. She provided a collection of vows and readings for us to choose from. We selected an alternative vow which represented our marriage the best. Irene also incorporated our personal messages into the ceremony, which was so sweet and became one of the highlights of our ceremony. Although we've only talked via video call before the wedding, Irene's calming energy made us feel relaxed immediately when we met. The logistics was quite straight forward as well. I would highly recommend Irene- thank you for making our wedding a special and lovely memory! read more

Irene is the best!! I met her when she married my niece and her fiancé and I was in awe! It was so personal and in that short period I got to know more about my niece and her soon to be hubby (I loved that)! My husband and I hired Irene to marry us but then Covid hit and we kept pushing the wedding out. Finally, we decided to have a small backyard wedding with just 6 guest. Irene had us fill out a form that asked questions about my fiancé and I and when the day came to marry us she took our words and put it into a beautiful story. She added her own special touch. She truly has a talent for putting words together and making it so meaningful. After covid had somewhat settled and we were starting to get back to life we got a chance to have our big wedding. We of course had Irene marry us again!! I will marry my husband again and again and I will always have Irene as the Officiant. If you want your ceremony to be special and memorable, you need Irene! She is a beautiful soul. I am lucky to have met her! read more

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I HIGHLY recommend Irene! She is the absolute sweetest and caring officiant. She took the time to get to know us and crafted a very personalized ceremony. This was a quickly planned secret elopement with just us and our two kiddos. She definitely took the stress off of us and felt like we had written our own vows (even though we didn't!). Very well organized and super easy to work with even with hectic schedules. Not only that, she was very accommodating. Everything was sort of up in the air due to potential rain and it being outdoors. Luckily, everything fell into place perfectly. But she was more than willing to wing it with us. She definitely made our dreamy December day even more special - thank you, Irene!! read more

We had our socially distanced wedding ceremony with Irene during August 2020. She was great at giving us advice on how to get the marriage license and what outdoor locations are good options. Irene is friendly and very informative. We are very happy that she performed our ceremony. read more

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Irene was a wonderful officiant for our secular wedding. She had a wealth of suggested rituals and readings and got to know us through an extensive survey. She wrote a beautiful ceremony and helped us rehearse all the little details from walking down the aisle to practicing putting rings on. Our guests really enjoyed her balance of grace and humor! read more

Irene is warm, organized, punctual, enthusiastic, and creative. She was a joy to work with! We had an initial meet-and-greet meeting with her over Zoom so she could learn what we were looking for in a ceremony, then we filled out a detailed questionnaire so she could learn more about us. She weaved our questionnaire answers together to write our love story, which was a significant part of the ceremony. She also gave us advice about writing our own vows, and gave us a few options to choose from for the ring exchange portion. She was wonderful to collaborate with and was always responsive to our questions via email, and she was happy to incorporate some edits after we reviewed the ceremony draft. The final ceremony she crafted was lighthearted, joyful, and deeply meaningful. We also appreciated how she checked in with us right before the ceremony to see how we were doing. Thank you so much, Irene! read more

The concept of paying a random stranger to officiate one of the most important ceremonies in your life seems like a bit of an odd concept, which made it tough to choose an officiant. My now husband and I interviewed five or six different officiants for our wedding before deciding on Irene Kane from Ceremonies and Celebrations. We wanted a personalized ceremony that would have the right balance of humor, seriousness and spirituality. It was also important to us to find an officiant we would feel totally comfortable with, as the ceremony is what the entire wedding centers around. As soon as we met Irene we knew she was the officiant for us. She was well spoken and had a warm personality and also offered complete customization of our ceremony. Even if our officiant was essentially was a stranger, we wanted to feel like we knew them and that they truly cared about our ceremony - which we totally felt with Irene. While it was one of the less important factors for us, Irene also charged a reasonable rate based on the level of ceremony customization. Some folks we met with charged more, but it was evident they didn't put as much work into their ceremonies as Irene does. We also met with some officiants who charged significantly less, but it was obvious that you get what you pay for. On the day of our wedding Irene arrived right on time and checked in with both my groom and I. As we expected, the ceremony went off without a hitch and we received a ton of compliments from our guests in regards to the ceremony. Everyone thought it was so unique and personal and truly reflected my husband and I as a couple. read more

Minister Irene created the most beautiful ceremony for my daughter's baby blessing. It was at Pulgas Water Temple.

Irene officiated our wedding last year and let me say: she is great! Our wedding ceremony was our favorite part of the day. My husband still laughs (and is amused/happy) that fantasy baseball made it into our vows. So many of our guests complimented us on the ceremony and laughed along with us during the various parts. Irene is very warm and friendly; and she has an exceptional reading voice - I cannot stress enough how gifted she is with public speaking. All of my guests were so impressed with her. Not only did she deliver the fun/joke-y parts of the ceremony with a great/perfect tone, but she just exuded such a friendly and warm aura throughout the whole ceremony. She set such a great tone/mood for the ceremony and made our wedding day so memorable and perfect. When searching for our officiant, we wanted someone who didn't mind delivering a non-denominational ceremony and who could make the ceremony a light-hearted and fun experience for both us and our guests. We weren't disappointed. She provided us with a few different options for the ceremony and let us decide on what she would cover, any additional things (readings, rituals, etc) to be part of the ceremony, etc. Also, before the ceremony, she gave us questionnaires to fill out and incorporated these into the reading (thus leading to the fantasy baseball mention, as well as other things, haha). What resulted was a very sweet and personalized ceremony that we'll always look back on with a big smile. (Note: she has other ceremony options too, which are more serious/solemn/religious/etc. She's very diverse in the types of weddings she can perform and will work with you to achieve the ceremony you want). Also, during the actual ceremony, she would help whisper little things to us at times. For example, when my husband was putting on my ring, she discreetly whispered to him to look me in the face (rather than at my hands). All of these cues were really inconspicuous, as we can't even see them on our wedding video. She also helped to cue when I should hand my bouquet off to the maid of honor. In terms of the ceremony planning, she was very flexible and incorporated the sand blending ritual, as well as other reading seamlessly. She even accommodated a change to the ceremony that I was nervous about the night before! She was easily accessible via email, phone, etc for advice. Also, she was really helpful with other wedding planning aspects, like the processional, timeline, etc. I highly recommend Irene! read more

Hiring Irene Kane as our officiant was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. My fiance/husband and I are non-religious and we wanted a personalized, non-denominational ceremony. We also fancy ourselves as good writers so we also wanted to write our own vows. Those cookie cutter ceremonies where you could just swap in another bride and groom's name? Not for us and Irene understood that completely. As many have mentioned here, she provided pre-written ceremony themes that my husband and I took multiple cuts at weaving together, tying in our transitions, and adding in our personal vows. Irene was excellent at providing advice in regards to timing, content, flow and delivery. We also wanted our vows to each other to be a surprise (to be first heard reading them to each other at our ceremony) and she took the time to consult with us individually on our vow writing. The other aspect that makes Irene great is that she has a genuine warmth about her and she truly cares about you as a couple. We instantly felt comfortable with her during our first meeting and through our questionnaire exercises. After the wedding, many of our guests asked how she knew us, assuming she was a close friend of the family. We also liked the fact that she has a strong, clear and inviting voice and when we watched our video, there was no doubt in my mind that Irene is just tops. We met with her 3x, once at her office and twice at her home. We did a practice run and we also hired her to come to our rehearsal. As a result of her prep work (cues, timing, what the parents do, how we should walk down the aisle, etc.) and her calming presence, our ceremony was seamless. We were relaxed and my husband and I could enjoy the ceremony for what it really is - a blending of lives and a lifelong commitment of love and understanding. Easily the best part of my wedding and one of the best moments of my life. Thanks Irene - you really made our wedding day that much more special. read more

Irene did a wonderful job as the celebrant and facilitator for our family memorial. She set the perfect warm, heartfelt, and reverential tone for the event, and brought the community together in such a calming and inclusive way. I am so happy with how the event turned out, and Irene was an integral part of that, helping to weave all the many different people and pieces together. As part of the program, Irene put together a portrait of our loved one that had passed, and made it truly personal and special. She was also very helpful in the planning, making suggestions and recommendations for order of service, readings, and any other questions that came up. She brought such a sense of dignity and respect, but also gentleness and kindness to the festivities overall. She did a great job of helping us honor our loved one in such a lovely and meaningful way. read more

Irene made our wedding day a success. From her wealth of experience to her calm and stately presence, we couldn't have asked for better. She was a pleasure to work with. Irene created a custom ceremony for us based on a questionnaire about how we met, what are hobbies were, etc. She was able to work-out a wonderful story into the greetings and blessings. For an extremely busy couple, this is exactly the help that we needed. We met with Irene once several months before the wedding and then corresponded remotely with her. She presented examples of past ceremonies and even had pre-designed ceremonies if we so chose. We took some inspiration from her past ceremonies and really melded it with our own tastes. Compounded with Irene's personal customization, it was just what we wanted. We met with her once more less than a month before the ceremony. She gave us feedback and we were set. Irene also did a great job at taking charge and giving appropriate cues to the string quartet, to the ushers, and to the guests when needed. She brought her years as a SF City Hall officiant to the table and it definitely showed. She was familiar with the setting, the process, and with the different vendors. If you're looking for a welcoming officiant who is open to both traditional and non-traditional ceremonies, Irene is the one. At least have a chat with her. She makes the ceremony planning process feel easy--and even when things related to a wedding never feel easy! Highly recommended. read more

Oh, Irene; I don't know if we can say enough about how much we love you. Every conversation, whether by phone or email, confirmed to us that we had made the right choice in choosing an officiant. Irene was incredibly professional and well-organized, and set us at ease every step of the way. We were able to "write" our own ceremony based off of several thematic ceremonies that she had performed. It made it highly personal, and it was obvious to everyone present how much our ceremony spoke of our values. We had many comments from guests that it was one of the most unique, personal, meaningful, and beautiful ceremonies that they had seen. We were thrilled with everything and will definitely ask Irene to conduct our next wedding!! Wait, what?... oh, um, nevermind that last part. Thank you Irene for all that you do!!! You are truly amazing, and we are glad that you were a part of our special day!! read more

My husband and I just got married on Crown Beach in Alameda and we could not be happier with our decision to have Irene as our officiant. She is warm, genuine, and professional. She was responsive and helpful throughout the process and I could tell that she really cared about us as a couple. She helped us put together a beautiful ceremony that was perfect for us. I loved how she crafted a personal story based on our individual questionnaires and I found it to be the highlight of the ceremony. She made us feel comfortable on the days leading up to the wedding and on the wedding day itself. I was impressed with the beautiful results of our ceremony and so were our guests. I highly recommend Irene as an officiant! read more

Irene has been awesome to work with. It was very easy to feel comfortable with her and she guided us throughout the whole thing. She has been very patient with all the changes and opinion from our families. read more

We had a lovely ceremony! The other two reviews prior to mine captured so many of my same sentiments, so I'll keep this brief. We had a lovely ceremony, the planning was fairly easy and we had a lot of "freedom" for personalization, as well as guidance from Irene. (I also recommend including Irene in your rehearsal, though it is optional.) Overall, our ceremony was the most touching, memorable, and my favorite part of my whole wedding day. read more

Irene made our wedding so special! We love how she told the story of how we met and fell in love. She gave us guidance in writing our own vows. We told her we wanted to do a special ceremony to include our daughter ( my step-daughter) and recognize our new family bond. It was our favorite part of the ceremony! Thank you again Irene. You helped create a day we will never forget :-) read more

We chose Irene from a list of recommended vendors from the Faculty Club (even though we did not get married at the Faculty Club). Our main consideration when choosing an officiant was that we wanted someone non-denominational who could help us create a ceremony that was touching and light-hearted. When we met with Irene she had a very pleasant demeanor and didn't make us feel like we were just another cookie cutter couple like another officiant we met with. She gave us some sample ceremony selections from which we could use to help us create our own unique ceremony. One item I especially liked about Irene was that she gives each engaged couple a questionnaire to fill out to get to know the couple better. She included information from our answers to personalize our ceremony. I liked the items she picked to include and it got a great response from our guests. Irene also helped to conduct our rehearsal along with our coordinator. They worked really well together. I highly recommend having them both at the rehearsal if you can. The bridal party got to meet them before the wedding so they knew who to look to for direction besides the bride. Also, since both Irene and our coordinator were there, they took care of lining everyone up and pacing everyone out so the most complicated thing I had to remember was the hand-off between my dad and (now) husband during the ceremony. I highly recommend Irene! read more

Husband was responsible in shortlisting officiants for our wedding and I spent long time reading up reviews on them. Needless to say, Irene was the one I chose. On the way to meeting Irene, husband suddenly thought that we might have met Irene in our friends wedding last year. And to no surprise, she was the officiant for our friend's wedding too! Irene was very attentive and patient in listening to our questions and our stories. She gave us materials to read about. She designed a personal questionnaire so the speech she made is tailored to the couple. Husband and I did the questionnaire separately and she surprised us during the ceremony. I think it was a great idea! Irene is very comfortable to work with, she has this calmness that spread to the others and I really needed that on my wedding day. read more

Irene was the perfect choice for our elopement to San Francisco City Hall. We had to plan everything from England and without all the help from Irene, it could have been very stressful. We had a lot of contact before the big day and we have had contact since and with every email Irene has been very kind and helpful. Irene is very warm, and obviously very caring. Her/our ceremony was perfect and we would not have changed a thing. She allowed us to write our own vows, with some help along the way, and we really could not be happier. Thank you, Irene, for such a pleasant experience. If you're reading this, you must need an officiant - do not hesitate to book Irene, you will not regret your decision. read more

As a wedding photographer, I have known and worked with Irene for many years. Her calm energy and professionalism have always impressed me. I recently photographed a wedding a City Hall, and Irene was the officiant. I could see the love in the wedding couple's eyes as Irene spoken the marriage vows and read through the poetic lines that were just right for the couple. If you are looking for a remarkable officiant for your wedding ceremony, I would definitely recommend Irene Kane. read more

Irene was an all around great officiant. Very easy to work with, warm and friendly. She provided us different options to choose from on vows, readings, rituals, and other aspects of a wedding ceremony. This was very helpful - we were able to use this information and create our own ceremony that suited us by mixing and matching pieces we liked. Irene also personalized our ceremony by getting to know us and writing a short personal history. We received several compliments after the wedding about how they enjoyed the ceremony and the warmth and personal touch Irene brought to it. Shortly after our wedding Irene provided us a copy of the ceremony as a keepsake, which was a very nice touch. We thoroughly enjoyed working with her during the entire process. read more

My husband and I recently got married in Clayton, CA. Irene Kane was our wedding officiant....we could not have been happier with our decision to have Irene officiate our wedding. As stated in many of these Yelp! reviews, Irene took the time to get to know each one of us through a personal questionnaire and in-person meetings. We had a cross cultural marriage, and Irene attended to these details very warmly and with professionalism. She even had many ideas on how to integrate both cultures. Our guests throughly enjoyed the "personal story" she wrote and shared during the ceremony of how we met and our unique personalities. Irene spoke very eloquently and a voice that projected well throughout the hall we were married in. Her attention to detail was impeccable. We hired her for our rehearsal the night before as well. By the time she arrived, she gracefully organized and lined up the bridal party - calling each person by their name (this is her personal style - i felt I had known her for years - not just 5 months). If you are looking for a very personable and reliable officiant, Irene is for you. She will make your ceremony (and wedding - our guests continued to talk about the ceremony at our wedding reception!), very memorable. Irene is truly doing her life's work. There are so many people out there with a "license to wed," but if you truly want meaning and passion in your ceremony, hire Irene. This is truly her calling...and it is evident when you meet with her and plan your ceremony. All the best in your wedding planning! read more

Irene was our favorite vendor during our wedding experience. She was personal, warm and super efficient. We contacted multiple potential officiants in the beginning, but she was the only one who gave us the comprehensive details of how her approach would be. We knew she would be the one even before speaking to her. During our first phone conversation, we shared how we envisioned our wedding; she was a good listener and took a lot of notes. She sent us a questionnaire to get to know us better following our conversation. Next thing we know she wrote a beautiful personal story of us along with multiple versions of vows for us to choose. We also met her in person to rehearse what we need to do in the wedding. The rehearsal really helped us to get grips of what were the logistics, so we could fully embrace the emotions and joys during our ceremony. Our ceremony would not have been as warm, personal and touching without Irene. read more